


broken glasses

by orsumfenix



Category: The Lorien Legacies - All Media Types, The Lorien Legacies - Pittacus Lore
Genre: Conversations, Gen, Parenthood, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-24
Updated: 2017-07-24
Packaged: 2018-12-06 09:33:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11597871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orsumfenix/pseuds/orsumfenix
Summary: In Alaska, Susannah gets a visitor.





	broken glasses

**Author's Note:**

> susannah sutekh was interesting af and i want to know what happened to her  
> actually i want to know what happened to malcolm too. Where Is He.

She’s been in Alaska for two weeks when a man comes to visit her.

Susannah recognises him, of course. Malcolm Goode. The last of the Greeters. The man her son saved.

He sits opposite her in the interrogation room. Susannah stares as he shifts. Malcolm Goode doesn’t seem worth her son’s betrayal. He barely seems to be worth anything at all.

He clears his throat. “You’re Adamus’ mother?”

“No.”

“He told me that you were.”

“Did he now?” She continues to stare for a few moments before moving her eyes to the table. “I had two children. Their names were Ivan and Kelly.”

“Ah.” So. He’s realised what she meant. “You realise that even if you’ve renounced him you still share the same blood?”

“Of course I realise that. It makes me sick to think of every day.”

“I think you’re lying.”

Susannah looks back up, teeth bared in a grin.

“Try me.”

Malcolm is clearly uncomfortable and probably a little scared, but he soldiers on. It’s enough to make her opinion of him rise, just a little.

“I’m here to inform you that I will be adopting Adamus and removing him from this camp. It’s not right that he should be here and I’m going to be his legal guardian from here on out. You have no choice in the matter.”

Her face doesn’t move, even if something inside of her wilts.

“You’ve come here to tell me this like I care,” she lies. “Take him. I won’t notice the difference. Neither will Kelly. And even if she does, she’ll be glad of it.”

“Kelly. Adamus’ sister, correct?”

Susannah tilts her head instead of answering.

“Do you know what Kelly told me once?” She doesn’t wait for him to respond before continuing. “She told me that she’d preferred Adam when he was dead. That the memory of a dead but loyal brother was better than the living traitor that she got. Tell me, what sort of person makes their own family think of them like that?”

“I don’t understand you people.” It’s not the reply she’s expecting, but she pushes nonetheless.

“We’re very simple to understand, Malcolm. We love those who are loyal to us. We loathe those we aren’t.”

He flinches when she says his name and she feels her lips curl upwards. Maybe he didn’t think she knew who he was. Well. That’s just made this whole exchange take on a different light.

“I have a son,” he says. “I’d tell you his name, but excuse me for not wanting you to know. And I love him no matter what, through thick and thin. He will always be my son.”

“Perhaps you don’t understand the situation,” Susannah cuts in, words sharp. “Picture if your son turned to our side. If he betrayed the species you were fully prepared to die for. If he looked at your years of captivity and suffering and turned his back on you.”

“I’d still love him. Every time I saw him I’d be imploring him to come back. Because that is what parents _do._ They don’t turn their backs on their children.”

“Then you and I are very different.”

The room falls silent. Malcolm jerks as though he’s going to leave, but then changes his mind.

“Regardless of your thoughts on the matter, I am going to take care of your son the way you never did.”

It’s those words more than anything that spark anger inside of her. How _dare_ he. How _dare_ he come in here and act like he knows anything, like he was there since Adam’s birth?

Because he wasn’t. And he has no _idea_ what any of this has been like.

“I _did_ take care of my son,” she seethes. “Seeing him alive was the happiest day of my life. I looked after him. I even brought him a final meal. And he treated me like that all meant nothing. Like my role as his mother meant simply that I birthed him. So I thought, fine. If you won’t treat me as your mother then I won’t treat you as my child.”

“You wanted him to die.”

“Better a dead son than a traitorous one.” She lets that hang in the air. Then she tilts her head. “You realise that I am considered gentle by my species’ standards? Adam always took after me more than anyone. I worried for him, when he was young. I wanted him to become strong. Perhaps I should’ve tried harder to enforce that, but some part of me was glad we were so alike. It made loving him so much easier.”

“Adam _is_ strong. He’s the strongest person I know.”

“He’s resilient, yes, but it’s the same way a cockroach is. No matter how many times you flatten the pest it always pops back up.”

“Your son is not an ‘it’.”

“No,” she concedes. “He’s not. But he _is_ a traitor. And that’s even worse.”

Malcolm sighs, slipping a hand behind his glasses to rub his eyes.

“Listen,” he starts. “Adamus is special. He’s good. If you can’t see that then that’s not my problem. But I don’t think he deserved the life he got so from here on out I’m giving him a better one. Now, if you remain a part of that life is up to you.”

Susannah blinks.

“What?”

“If you still care about him at all, then it may be worth reconciling. You could’ve been bullshitting this entire conversation for all I know.” She stares. Malcolm shifts. “Or not. But I’ve given permission for the guards to let you get into contact with me. If you want to try and mend things with your son…I won’t stop you. In fact, I’ll even encourage it.” He pauses. “Of course, only if Adam is comfortable doing so.”

“I think,” she says, voice like ice. “It’s time you took your leave.”

Malcolm’s searches her face briefly before nodding.

“Very well. Just – think about what I’ve said.”

He rises, moving towards the door. Susannah thinks about all that’s happened with her son, about his betrayal and her love and how the Cause doesn’t matter anymore, not really, so what’s stopping her from reaching out? If she just pushed everything to the side, ignored what she’s always believed in, seeing as it’s all meaningless now – could she really, truly, be a mother to her son again?

Malcolm is almost at the exit.

“I’d be careful if I were you,” she calls out. He pauses. “He’s already betrayed one family.”

He stays still for a few moments. Then he keeps walking.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading, any feedback would be appreciated :)


End file.
